Shafi at Hathazari, Babu Nagari held

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Hifazat-e Islam chief Ahmad Shafi arrived at Hathazari in Chittagong on Monday evening after several people died there from clashes on rumours that had been arrested.

The Chittagong-based radical organisation's Secretary General Junaid Babu Nagari was detained in Dhaka, police said.

Nagari is a teacher at the Darul Ulum Muinul Alam Madrasa at Hathazari. Ahmad Shafi is the madrasa's director general.

Earlier in the evening, Shafi left his Lalbagh office under police protection and went to the Shahjalal International Airport to board a plane to Chittagong. He started for Hathazari right away in a car from Shah Amanat International Airport.

The Hifazat chief was supposed to attend his organisation's rally at Motijheel on Sunday, the day it laid a siege to Dhaka, but skipped it.

After clashing with the law enforcers from Sunday noon until evening, the Hifazat supporters announced nonstop sit-in at Motijheel's Shapla Intersection. But a joint raid of law enforcement agencies drove them out of the business district in the early hours of Monday. Several people were killed and many others injured during the daylong clashes and the raid.

Since then, top Hifazat leaders including Shafi and Babu Nagari were staying at the organisation's temporary office at Lalbagh. The rumour of Shafi being arrested spread at around Monday noon while heavy deployment of police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were seen around the premises since morning.

The rumour led the students of Darul Ulum Muinul Alam Madrasa and Hifazat supporters to go berserk at Hathazari. They also clashed with police who had obstructed them. At least five people were killed and up to 25 injured in the clash.

Shafi left the Lalbagh office in a red car at around 3:15pm under police protection.

Asked whether he was detained, Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Deputy Commissioner (Lalbagh Division) Harun-ur Rashid, who was present there, told reporters, "Did you see any policeman in the Hujur's (Shafi) car? He is going to the airport. He might be going home."

But he did not say anything about the presence of huge number of law enforcers at Hifazat office.

Senior Assistant Superintendent of Armed Police Battalion Mohammad Iqbal Hossain confirmed that Shafi left Dhaka in a Regent Airways flight at 7pm.

Regent Airways Executive (airport) Ahsan Habib Ovi said that five tickets were booked in that flight at around 3:30am.

Shafi's son Anas Ahmad was also with him along with Saifullah, 'Tawhid' and Hossain Ahmed.

The plane carrying Shafi landed in Chittagong at 7:40pm. Patenga police OC Qazi Shahabuddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com that Shafi was also provided security as he started for Hathazari.

Hifazat leaders said Shafi reached at the madrasa at Hathazari at around 9:30pm.

Meanwhile, police detained Junaid Babu Nagari from the capital's Dhakeshwari National Temple area, DMP Lalbagh Division DC Harun-ur Rashid told bdnews24.com.

But Hifazat’s Dhaka metropolitan unit leader Mohammad Faruk Ahmed claimed police employed 'tricks' to detain Nagari.

He told bdnews24.com that Nagri was told that there was another plane ticket to Chittagong waiting for him and asked him to leave. "But after he left Lalbagh office in a rented car, he was detained from the Dhakeshwari Temple area."

Babu Nagari was present at the press briefing at the Lalbagh office on Sunday and answered queries of the journalists over the organisation's programme to press for a 13-point charter of demands.

He has been acting as the spokesperson of the radical group due to Shafi's ailment.

Hifazat activists – police say most of them were Jamaat-e-Islami supporters in disguise -- had besieged Dhaka to press for their demands which include punishing the 'atheist' bloggers and annulment of the women policy.

They went berserk at the capital's Paltan, Gulistan, Bijoynagar from Sunday noon until evening and declared to stay put there. They smashed and torched numerous shops and vehicles in those areas during that time and set fire to the Communist Party of Bangladesh headquarters.

But a joint raid of police, RAB and BGB took place early Monday and drove out the Hifazat supporters.

The Lalbagh house, 57, Kazi Reazuddin Road, is the headquarters for Islami Oikya Jote, an ally of BNP and Jamaat, and headed by Shafi's son-in-law. . Hifazat-e Islam also uses the building as its Dhaka office as

Shafi was staying there since Sunday when violence erupted during the Dhaka blockade.